The present disclosure relates to a development device and an image forming apparatus including the development device.
An electrophotographic type image forming apparatus conventionally includes a development device. A casing of the development device stores a developer. A toner in the developer is supplied to a surface of an image carrier (for example, a photosensitive drum) to develop an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier.
In the above development device, when the toner in the developer is scattered outside the casing, the scattered toner may contaminate an inner space of the image forming apparatus and exert bad influence on operations of members constituting the image forming apparatus. Then, various methods to inhibit the scattering of the toner from the development device are proposed.
For example, in some cases, outside air is introduced toward an inner space of the casing of the development device through a flow gap formed between the casing of the development device and the surface of the photosensitive drum in order to inhibit the toner scattering from the development device.